


In the Library

by bluekujira



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Angst, Buffalo Wild Wings, College, Dorks, Happy Ending, Inspired by a prompt, Kissing, Librarian Arthur, Librarian England, Libraries, M/M, Making Out, NSFW, Orgasms, Pining, School, Sick Arthur, Smut, Tumblr, USUK - Freeform, University, Written for, almost library sex, arthur with freckles, arthur with glasses, college town, england with freckles, england with glasses, fem prucan, hetero spamano, jinahli, sick england, slight - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-09
Updated: 2015-06-16
Packaged: 2018-04-03 13:40:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 18,887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4102963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluekujira/pseuds/bluekujira
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arthur is a worker at the university's student library while Alfred is a current senior at the end of his last semester. He unfortunately has fines and books to return but a certain library keeps harping on him. Will he ever stop? (The answer is no).<br/>__</p><p>Another fanfiction woooo! Thank you to all who read my last one and I hope you enjoy this one as well (even though it's super boring!) </p><p>This is a fanfiction I wrote for tumblr user jinahli !</p><p>Based on the prompt “You’re the librarian who keeps harping on me for overdue book fees and normally i can avoid you just fine which is a bummer because you’re so cute but i have a paper due oh crap"  </p><p>Please feel free to leave comments bc it makes me happy! And check out my other fics if you want! : )</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

The chill running down his spine was the last thing Alfred expected to feel in the student library. He was at the end of a long hallway of bookshelves in the back of the library trying to find a book when it hit him. It wasn’t like the kind of chill you get for no reason when you’re sitting up at two in the morning and realizing just how big the world really is (let’s face it the galaxy and the universe are far larger than any human can comprehend and that is just fucking mind blowing to Alfred). Instead, it’s the kind of chill you get when you _know_ somebody’s watching you. That kind of chill makes you realize all that time you thought you were alone there was somebody actually there. That’s how Alfred felt now.

 

It took every ounce of his courage to glance down the long bookshelf tunnel and peer into the darker, more abandoned part of the library. The figure stood there, looming at the end the shelf like death itself daring Alfred to come closer. The way the shadows fell over its face gave it somewhat of a ghostly and ghouly appearance that had Alfred’s mouth going dry. He’d spent most of his life avoiding horror movies and films because of this exact reason. He always assumed if he never sought out the supernatural it would never seek out him. He could plainly see he was wrong now.

 

Alfred wondered if he should make a run for it. He thought of how he’d always been pretty strong but was he strong enough to tip an entire bookshelf over onto the creature? He didn’t need the book right now. He could come back. He didn’t have to do this. He didn’t have to face death right now.

 

Apparently the grand universe had other plans in mind for Alfred because the creature suddenly started moving towards him. It came at him briskly, a light flickering above it and going out. Alfred heard the graveling sound of a voice calling out to him, like something straight from Hell. He didn’t wait to stick around to find out what it was trying to tell him.

 

Breaking from the frozen state of shock he’d been in, he immediately spun around and booked it out of the library. He heard the voice give out one last gravely call before it was out of hearing range. Students looked at Alfred as he ran past them, and Alfred shoved a poor guy out of the way. He glanced back, relieved to see that nothing was following him. He didn’t stop until he was outside in the shining sunlight of day and life and not whatever the fuck that had been. He doubled over to catch his breath. He hadn’t run that fast or that much since the midnight release of the last ever Harry Potter film (long story).

 

He was about to stand up again when he felt a cool grip on his shoulder. Alfred shot up nearly two feet off the ground, shrieking and drawing the attention of everyone. He could even

see students looking at him from inside the library. Alfred looked and saw a girl about his age standing there, shocked and terrified. Alfred backed away from her, wondering if death had cloaked its appearance.

 

“What do you want?” he gasped, clutching his backpack in front of him as a shield.

 

“Um… I just wanted to let you know that you left this…” She handed him a notebook of his and Alfred wondered how it had fallen out of his backpack. That is, until he realized his backpack was completely unzipped. “Dammit…” How long had it been like that? How many other things had he dropped? It was too late for them now. He wasn’t going back in there to retrieve them.

 

“I also wanted to tell you that you have some overdue book fees you need to pay… especially before school lets out and especially if you’re graduating.”

 

Alfred nodded. “Right right yeah… Yeah sorry about that I’ll pay them,” he said, cursing inwardly. It’s not like he purposefully was trying to avoid paying them, it was just that he kept forgetting to and every time they reminded him he tried to make a note of it and told himself he _absolutely_ needed to pay off those fees but about ten minutes later it was completely out of his mind and he forgot about it until days later when something reminded him again. This process recycled itself over and over and Alfred was now horrified to see how many fees he owed. Probably as much as the books cost. Would they keep him from graduating if he didn’t hand over the money?

 

The girl smiled and nodded before heading off, back into the library.

 

\--

 

The rest of the day Alfred couldn’t shake that feeling from himself. Even when he was bored out of his mind in his philosophy class (god he hated philosophy) the hair on the back of his neck stood straight. He had to go back in though. He needed that book for a research paper of his.

 

He headed over after class, knowing it was better sooner than later. He just wished it could be later. He’d thought about trying to put it off by going to get dinner first but he was afraid that once he left campus he would convince himself not to go back. When he got to the library he shuffled nervously through the front doors. The book he needed was past the front desk and along the back of the library. The girl who had given his notebook back earlier was sitting at the desk reading. She looked pretty tired and Alfred wondered just how long her shift was if she was still here. That sucked.

 

Hoisting up his backpack a bit and tensing up, Alfred headed towards the back of the library. He was about three quarters of the way down when a figure suddenly stepped out from behind a shelf, running into him. The figure had been holding books that were now practically stabbing Alfred in the side. Alfred winced, backing up.

 

“Whoa sorry about that-”

 

“You!” The figure, a guy around Alfred’s age, was suddenly pointing and glaring at Alfred. He had on a sweater that was too big for him, the sleeves sloppily rolled up around his elbows, and a pair of tight jeans that made his legs look way too good. He was wearing a pair of glasses that were perched on the top of a small nose that was spattered with freckles. The guy’s bangs framed around his cheeks and face and honestly despite the fact the dude was glaring at Alfred with the biggest eyebrows he had ever seen, he was really really really _cute_.

 

“Me?” Alfred asked, wondering what he’d done to piss him off.

 

“Who else?” they croaked, clearing their throat. “You have fines you need to pay back!” they growled, and it was then Alfred noticed the guy was sick. He had a nasally sounding voice from a most likely stuffed up nose, and his voice was very hoarse and croaky, like he was losing it.

 

“Yea yea I know…” Alfred said sheepishly, scratching the back of his head nervously. “I’ll pay them back I promise I just really need to get a book right now…”

 

“Every time you check out a book you-” The guy started coughing, stuffing his face into the crook of his arm to avoid coughing on Alfred. “-turn it in late and your fines just grow and grow and you never pay them back!”

 

Alfred nodded slightly, wondering why this guy was keeping tabs on his library fines. Didn’t he have anything better to do? He slowly started to try and inch past him, hoping he wouldn’t notice. It was a failed try because the guy noted immediately Alfred’s attempted escape plan and moved to push a cart in his way, blocking his path.

 

“I refuse to let you go until you _promise_ you’ll pay your fines by the end of the week. Do you not care that they’re accumulating every day? You haven’t even renewed them online.”

 

Alfred huffed, slightly annoyed. He just wanted to get this book and go. The only benefit of this situation was that this guy was even cuter when he was angry, and on top of it, his squeaky sick voice was adorable. Alfred wondered what kind of face he would make if he kissed him. He bet his face would turn red and…

 

“Are you listening to me?” the guy snapped.

 

“I know I know… okay? I’ve been busy and… keep forgetting…”

 

“Well that’s why I’m reminding you,” the librarian calmed down a bit, sniffing. “If your fines get too high you won’t be able to check out books and if you are going to graduate soon then high enough fines can even freeze your graduation…”

 

“I will. I promise… just… I need to get this book…”

 

The guy looked a bit disheartened. Alfred felt bad he couldn’t share the same passion as the librarian about overdue fines but this guy was most likely a student too right…? He could understand that research papers were time consuming… He pushed the cart out of the way. “Thank you for reminding me… I’ll do it, promise,” Alfred said quickly, nodding at the guy as he headed to find the book. If he hadn’t had been so busy he probably would have stopped to chat with the guy more… Not that the guy had looked like he wanted to chat much with anyone.

 

\--

 

Alfred walked out of the library about ten minutes later, having to hear the girl at the desk remind him of his fines again. He’d seen the guy shelving books, glancing over at Alfred like he was keeping a watchful eye on him.

 

Pulling out his own cell phone, Alfred phoned his sister.

 

“Alfred?” Mattie asked when she picked up. Alfred could hear yelling in the background of what appeared to be Gil’s voice.

 

“Hey Mattie- oh wait shit… you’re on your date right now aren’t you?”

 

“It’s okay. Are you all right?” she asked, concerned.

 

“I’m fine, I just wanted to know if I could get a ride home… It’s no big deal I’ll call someone else for a ride.”

 

“Alfred I can come get you if you need,” she said. He heard her shush Gil gently.

 

“And make you leave Gil? You know she’d have a fit if you did that,” Alfred laughed. “I’m serious, I’m fine,” he said. “See you later.”

 

He hung up the phone and tried to call a few of his other friends. He was running out of options when finally Romana picked up. “What is it?” the other barked.

 

Alfred flinched. “Sorry- were you busy?’

 

Romana didn’t answer for a second. “No, do you need something?”

 

“Well I was wondering if I could get a ride home…?” he asked, hopeful that Romana wasn’t in a _really_ bad mood because the answer would be an immediate no.

 

“Where are you?” Romana asked after another pause.

 

“Outside of the student library- McPherson library,” Alfred responded.

 

“All right I’ll be there in ten,” Romana said shortly, hanging up.

 

Alfred sighed, thankful to have a ride home. He was a bit chilly with the wind hitting off the side of the library. When Romana got there Alfred got in, swinging his backpack into the backseat. “Thanks,” he said, and it came out a bit rougher than he’d intended.

 

“What’s your problem?” Romana asked, pulling out and speeding down the road, yelling at the cars in front of her to get out of her way. Romana had always been a road-rage driver and Alfred had just gotten used to her cursing and spewing venom at every “idiot” driver.

 

“Just a long day,” he lied. “Thanks for the ride,” he said again, trying to be more sincere.

 

“I was nearby. I have to come over to your place anyway. Antonio and I have to talk.”

 

Alfred winced. That wasn't a good sign. Romana’s boyfriend Antonio, lived with Alfred along with Gil (well technically fiancé because they’d both been planning to propose to one another, both unknowing of each other’s plans, but Alfred had been consulted by both of them separately about it). That was how Mattie and Gil had met and since then they’d been hooked at the hip with one another. At first Alfred had just thought they’d bonded as really close friends and it wasn’t until he accidently walked in on them having sex that he realized they were dating. Alfred didn’t have anything against his sis dating a girl, or Gil in particular, he just had never wanted to walk in on his sister having sex with anyone at all. He sure she wouldn’t want to have the same happen to her with him. Not that he was having sex… He was single and painfully so.

 

Thinking about the librarian from earlier had him seriously wishing he’d gotten to talk to him more…

 

Romana whipped into the apartment lot, nearly hitting Antonio’s car when she pulled into the spot next to it. Antonio was inside when they walked in but as soon as he saw her he took off towards his bedroom. She took off after him and that was the last Alfred saw of them for that night. Kiku was sitting on the couch with Ludwig, both of them looking very confused. They were partners with Antonio for their senior capstone so they were over often.

 

“I guess we’re not going to be working on anything more tonight now that Antonio is… busy,” Kiku said.

 

Ludwig nodded and they started packing up their things.

 

“How are you?” Kiku asked Alfred, as Alfred dumped his backpack on the table, going into the kitchen to get something to drink.

 

He sighed. “Well I tried to get a book from the library tonight but a demon from hell stopped me. And then when I went back this very angry but very cute librarian yelled at me about my overdue fines… And now I’m here.”

 

Kiku nodded, seemingly mulling over what Alfred had said. “A librarian?”

 

“I mean, he’s probably just a student worker over at McPherson library but I’m gonna call him librarian for now because I don’t know his name… Anyway…” Alfred poked a hole through the capri sun he’d gotten from the fridge, taking a big sip from it. “Gotta a paper to write now. See you guys.”

 

Kiku and Ludwig nodded, taking their backpacks and heading out. Alfred decided to stay in the kitchen to do his paper. He would get more done and he also could avoid potentially hearing Romona and Antonio fighting or having make-up sex. He set up at the kitchen table and plugged in his headphones, starting to type away.

 


	2. Chapter Two

Arthur hummed to himself as he shifted books back in the periodicals. He heard movement from the end of the hallway of books. Not a lot of students came back this far for anything. Some of them needed the periodicals and the government documents for papers, and definitely more of the graduate students like Arthur himself actually used these documents for citation and such. Arthur glanced around the corner and could see the guy- Alfred, according to his school ID (not that Arthur had memorized the guy’s name from the times he’d checked out books before…), standing there at the end. He looked nervous and Arthur didn’t really know why. Libraries were usually very calm and quiet, that’s why Arthur liked having his student job there. It was easy. Shift, stack, reshelve books, it was so much nicer than some of the office jobs that just required sitting there and talking on the phone a lot. Arthur hated that.

 

Alfred stood where he was for a while and Arthur wondered if he was lost. He took a quick breath, trying to calm himself. Alfred made him rather nervous, not because Arthur was always yelling at him to return his books, but because Alfred was _really_ good looking. He had to be a sports team with those muscles, but despite his athletic look, he had a really kind face. Not some douche frat boy appearance that this campus seemed to be full of. Arthur was such a wimp though. He could never bring himself to talk to him normally. He always wanted to ask him things like, “how are you?” and “are you busy with classes?” but instead he just blurted out that Alfred needed to pay his fees. At least, since Alfred didn’t pay his fees, it meant he had to come back. Once more chance for Arthur to see him.

 

“Excuse me,” he croaked, and immediately felt embarrassed. He’d recently gotten sick and his voice just sounded awful. He went from either having no voice at all to having some gravely, awful voice that made him wish he had a marker board to write on instead.

 

Alfred just took there, looking down the hallway at where Arthur stood. Arthur noticed his face looked rather shocked. He tried to call to him again, and began walking towards him. The light above Arthur went out and he made a note to let maintenance know so that they could replace it. “Did you need help finding something?” Arthur asked, trying to raise his voice so Alfred could hear.

 

It apparently didn’t work because Alfred immediately turned and ran. Arthur frowned, stopping in place. He was confused. Had Alfred not noticed him? There was no way- he’d been looking right at him. Maybe he just thought Arthur was going to yell at him again? That was no reason to run so quickly…

 

Arthur felt a little disappointed. He didn’t think he was scary enough that he made people _run away_ from him. He left the periodicals section and headed back to the front desk. Elizaveta was there with a notebook in her hand.

 

“There was a boy just now…” she started.

 

“Was he running?” Arthur asked, coughing.

 

She nodded. “He dropped this…”

 

“Well do go see if you can catch him and hand it back,” Arthur said, figuring Alfred wouldn’t run from such a small girl like Elizaveta. “I’ll watch the front desk.”

 

She nodded and went off in the direction Arthur assumed Alfred had gone. He sat at the desk and waited, scanning in a few books some students had returned and putting them on a cart to reshelve later. Since it was nearing exam time for a lot of people there were more students in the library than usual, set up in chairs and at the many desks and tables, either in groups or alone, all with books and laptops and food spread around them.

 

When Elizaveta came back she didn’t have the notebook so Arthur assumed she’d successfully returned it.

 

She stood next to him at the desk. “He was… very strange,” she said. “He screamed when I tapped his shoulder… and he looked very… scared of me?” she said, puzzled.

 

Arthur didn’t know what to say. Maybe Alfred was a really paranoid guy in general. Maybe Arthur constantly reminding him about fees had gotten to him. “Sorry then…” He rested his head on the palm of his hand, elbow leaning on the counter. “I wonder why he just doesn’t bring the books back in… Surely he can’t need them for so many months…”

 

“Maybe he’s lost them and just doesn’t want to admit it?” she suggested.

 

“Well at this rate he’s going to end up paying back the price of the books in the fines he owes.”

 

“Maybe money isn’t that much of a concern to him? So he wouldn’t care if he was getting library fines or not.”

 

Arthur hoped not. Alfred had seemed different than the typical rich college student. Arthur didn’t want him to be like that. He knew of other students who, when they wanted a new phone or something like that, would purposefully break their own phones so they could get new ones. Arthur had the money to replace his phone if it did break, but it wasn’t like he wanted it to break. And he certainly wouldn’t ever break his phone just to get a new one. The very thought of doing that was ridiculous. Just how much money did some of these students have to throw it away so easily?

 

Arthur huffed and Elizaveta laughed a bit. She pointed to his forehead. “You’ll have wrinkles there soon if you keep frowning so much.”

 

“My mother says the same thing to me,” Arthur said. “I can’t help that I’m concerned for other’s money and… other such matters.”

 

“Hmmm… Well I think you’re really more concerned about when that guy is going to come back to the library.”

 

Arthur looked at her now. “I-I…” He stuttered, not knowing what to say. She moved away from him to sit on one of the stools, pulling out a book.

 

“I’m just saying that out of all the students who have fines piling up, you only seemed to be concerned about him. He’s the only one you harp on all the time too.”

 

“That’s not true- I harp on the others as well,” Arthur defended himself in a squeaky voice.

 

“Maybe, but you don’t stare after them from the corner of the library too.”

 

Arthur flushed. If she’d noticed then had Alfred noticed too? Was that why he’d run from him? He knew Arthur was interested and was just disgusted with him? Arthur felt worried. He’d upset a guy who didn’t even know his name. Maybe he should lighten up a bit on him?

 

“I just… I think… he seems interesting,” Arthur said, losing his voice a bit. He tried to clear his throat, reaching for his travel mug of tea.

 

“And hot,” Elizaveta giggled. She liked to tease him too much. When Arthur had first initially gotten sick and lost his voice she absolutely lost it laughing at him. She would mimic and make fun of him. Arthur hadn’t been able to say anything back, which made it worse. And when he had tried to speak and nothing came out, she’d just laughed harder. She reminded him in many ways of his other friend Francis. Except Elizaveta had far more of a temper.

 

“That too,” he admitted finally.

 

Elizaveta smiled more, nodding. “His eyes are really great… such a pretty color.” She leaned on the counter, a dreamy look coming to her face. Arthur wondered if that was what he looked like half the time. If so, he was going to have to stop thinking about Alfred as often as he did.

 

They talked a bit more at the counter for a while, the amount of students deteriorating as they went to class or went to go get food that didn’t come from a vending machine. Arthur eventually began reshelving some of the books so the people the next morning wouldn’t have as much work to do. Arthur knew he hated it when he had the morning shift and came in to find two or three carts full of books.

 

About an hour later he was pushing a cart down the aisle, stopping at the end to grab a stack of books. He rounded the corner of the shelves and immediately ran into someone. He backed up, glancing up. It was Alfred. All of his worries that he’d run over and over through his head earlier seem to fade away. “You!” he pointed at Alfred, not knowing why he needed to point. He hoped it would stop Alfred from running away this time. He was still slightly upset that he had run away so quickly.

 

He noticed Alfred was looking him up and down and wondered if there was something wrong with his outfit. He had slowly been running out of clean laundry and really needed to get some down that weekend.

 

“Me?” Alfred asked.

 

“Who else?” Arthur craoked, then immediately tried to clear his throat. He didn’t know whether he should ask him about earlier or not but glancing up at Alfred, it made it hard to think straight. Even behind those glasses he was always wearing, he did have really pretty blue eyes. “You have fines you need to pay back!” he said, nose stuffy. It came out too rough. He inwardly cringed at himself. There he went again. Was that the only thing he could say around Alfred? Fines fines fines. No wonder the guy hated him.

 

“Yea yea I know…” Alfred said. “I’ll pay them back I promise I just really need to get a book right now…”

 

Arthur felt disappointed. Every time he’d confronted Alfred about the fines he always got that same half-hearted response. Did Alfred even _care_ about paying back his fines? “Every time you check out a book you-” Arthur started coughing, stuffing his face into the crook of his arm to avoid coughing on Alfred. God he was already making him mad by yelling at him all the time. He could imagine how much more he would probably piss him off if he coughed on him, and got him sick. He didn’t need to give Alfred more reasons to hate him. “-turn it in late and your fines just grow and grow and you never pay them back,” he finally said, his throat sore and his glands swollen. He wanted some tea… and to go home and sleep too.

 

He saw Alfred was trying to get past him in his time of weakness. He pushed the cart in the way, wondering if this was what he was willing to go through to get Alfred to stay there talking to him. “I refuse to let you go until you _promise_ you’ll pay your fines by the end of the week. Do you not care that they’re accumulating every day? You haven’t even renewed them online.”

 

Alfred looked annoyed and distracted. He had this glazed look over his eyes most students got when they were daydreaming about something else and not paying attention to the professor. Here he was finally getting to talk with Alfred, and he was fucking it up majorly. And Alfred wasn’t even paying attention… “Are you listening to me?” Arthur asked, upset.

 

“I know I know… okay? I’ve been busy and… keep forgetting…” Alfred replied.

 

“Well that’s why I’m reminding you,” Arthur said softly. He could understand being busy but it’d been a while… Maybe the guy really did care and maybe Arthur’s constant harping was really making him feel bad. “If your fines get too high you won’t be able to check out books and if you are going to graduate soon then high enough fines can even freeze your graduation…” Arthur explained, trying to make it so Alfred thought he was concerned about his future and had a reason for all this nagging. He was really trying to look out for him. And he was really trying to look at him.

 

“I will. I promise… just… I need to get this book…”

 

Arthur inwardly sighed. Alfred didn’t really care to carry out this very one-sided pile of shit of conversation. Arthur was more upset with himself that he couldn’t find the words to talk about anything else. Part of him felt that if he did try to have a normal conversation with Alfred he would just end up trying to flirt and hit on him and that was more of a disaster than this one. Arthur moved the car to let Alfred by.

 

“Thank you for reminding me… I’ll do it, promise,” Alfred said quickly, pushing past Arthur.

 

Arthur eventually returned back to Elizaveta. It was the end of his shift now and he was glad he could go home. He needed to get some sleep and fight off this sickness. He didn’t bother mentioning to her that he’d run into Alfred again. There was nothing much to say other than he’d made Alfred more mad at him, and now he was probably going to avoid paying his fines even more now. He couldn’t exactly admit he’d trapped the guy in the library against his will until he’d promised to pay back his fines. God, Arthur was crazy. He couldn’t believe himself sometimes.

 

He walked home, feeling the chill of the night air and wind go straight through his sweater. He wondered as he looked across the campus when he would get to see Alfred again.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Two Notes: I honestly sympathize with Alfred because I too have fines I really need to pay off to the library and haven’t done so yet. Like… school ended about a month ago and i still haven’t returned the books. i dont even need them.


	3. Chapter Three

Alfred glanced around the corner of the doorway, staring intently at the front desk of the library. There was a guy sitting there looking bored out of his mind but other than that- no certain librarian in sight. Alfred just needed to go in there and get out as fast as he could. He’d finally gotten around to getting some of the books he needed to return, that would at least help stop some of the accumulation of fees.

 

A girl and a guy walked by him, giving him a strange look. Alfred slinked in after them, trying to use them as cover as much as he could. They broke off in the opposite direction of the front desk and Alfred darted up there quickly. The guy behind the desk was small with brown hair, dark skin, and a hoop earring in one ear. He was quiet when he spoke, asking Alfred what he needed.

 

“Just returning some books…”

 

The guy nodded and took the books from Alfred, starting to scan them back in.

 

“Did you need anything else?”

 

Alfred was about to say no when he changed his mind. “Hey so… you know that other guy that works here…?” Alfred figured there were more than just two guys working so he tried to think of something to describe him. “He’s uh… got blonde hair… and… green eyes… er…” The guy looked confused still. “And um… eyebrows…?”

 

The confusion cleared away and the guy nodded. “Yes yes… his name is Arthur. Did you need to speak with him?”

 

“No no!” Alfred said, shaking his head. “I didn’t need to…”

 

“He’s not in today. Did you need something from him?”

 

Alfred shook his head. He noticed the guy looked confused again. He didn’t seem to understand why Alfred was asking about Arthur but didn’t need to see him or talk to him. God he probably looked like a creep.

 

“Th-thanks…” Alfred said, backing away from the counter. “Have a nice day.”

 

At least he knew the other librarian’s name now. It was Arthur… It was nicer than just referring to him as _that guy_ or as the librarian. At least now that he knew Arthur wasn’t going to be in today he could relax a little bit. And he could actually stay and do some work in the library instead of having to go somewhere else.

 

He sat himself at a table near the foreign language section, spreading out his notebooks and textbooks and setting up his laptop. This paper was going to be the death of him but he just kept telling himself that classes were almost over and then he would be done for good. It was strange to think he was graduating soon. Well… unless he didn’t pay his library fines. Then he wouldn’t be.

 

_I really need to get on that…_

 

Some time passed before Alfred was starting to get hungry. Before he had decided to get up he saw someone sit down across from him out of the corner of his eye. He saw his sister, Mattie, sitting there and beaming at him. Sometimes it was strange seeing her, because of them being twins. He always wondered if he’d look sort of like that if he were a girl, or if he just grew his hair out and put on a bit of makeup.

 

“Hey Mattie,” Alfred said, wondering what she needed or how she found him.

 

“Bro I need to talk to you,” she said, leaning forward.

 

“Then talk to me- what’s up?”

 

“It’s about Gil, sort of, and then kind of about Antonio.”

 

Alfred paled a bit. “Are you breaking up with Gil?” he asked, ready to be concerned and worried and listen to Mattie.

 

She shook her head. “No no Gil and I are fine.”

 

Alfred felt a bit of relief. He wasn’t sure he was ready to deal with living with his sister’s ex. And he genuinely didn’t want Mattie to be upset. “What is it?”

 

“Well we were talking about after graduation- she really wants to travel. But like, she really wants me to come with. Like a summer happy graduation to us you know? I know mom and dad would probably be all for it, but I didn’t know if you’d be upset if we went without you…”

Sometimes Mattie really over worried about Alfred. “What- are you kidding? I won’t be upset- jealous yes but like… I’d really feel like a third wheel if it was just the three of us… I’ll think of something else or I don’t know- travel with other friends at some point.” Alfred reached over to flick Mattie in the arm. She smacked his hand away, rolling her eyes.

 

“All right all right… I just wanted to let you know ahead of time… It’s not official or anything, we still have to plan expenses and stuff… I didn’t want to just tell you last minute and have you upset about it… I’d feel bad, it would ruined my whole trip.”

 

Alfred laughed. “Nah it’s all right.”

 

“So what are you doing here? I never see you in this library.”

 

“That’s because there is a certain librarian that is always quick to yell at me about my fines… He’s not working today so… And also I have a paper I need to get done and the teacher is an ass he’s making us use actual books and not just articles off the internet… It’s a pain so I’ve had to come in a lot which makes it worse because the librarian sees me check out more books. And since I haven’t returned any of them and since I don’t pay my fines that certain librarian is always yelling at me…” Alfred rubbed his temples. “He’s really fucking cute too it isn’t fair…”

 

Mattie blinked at him. “Why don’t you talk to him…?”

 

Alfred looked at her, wondering if she’d just ignored everything he’d said up until the cute part.

 

“I mean… it’s easier to yell to people you don’t really know about fines… I think… I don’t know. But maybe if you like… talked to him and became friends with him he’d tone it down a bit. And if he’s cute it’s a bonus so…” She shrugged. “That’s just my suggestion.”

 

“I think you’ve got it backwards. If he knows me it’ll be easier to yell at me.”

 

“If he knows you then he knows he’ll have to deal with you more. Since you don’t know each other he can just yell at you and walk away. But if he did know you he couldn’t just walk away. It’s easier for him now because he doesn’t have to face you afterwards…”

 

“This is getting too complicated… I’ll just… I guess I’ll talk to him… later this week, okay?”

 

Mattie smiled. “You don’t have to. I’m just giving you options. I mean, it is almost the end of the semester. And once you graduate you probably won’t see him again. So there’s really no point in trying to make friends, or boyfriends, or whatever it is you want.”

 

“You’re confusing me,” Alfred laughed. “I don’t know if you’re telling me to go for it or nah.”

 

“I’ll guess you’ll never know,” Mattie laughed, glancing over Alfred’s shoulder behind him.

 

Alfred turned around, seeing Gil walking up to them. She waved before joining Mattie next to her. She bumped against Mattie gently, and Mattie kissed her on the cheek. “What are you guys talking about?” she asked, nodding her head in greeting to Alfred.

 

“We were talking about whether or not you’ll actually graduate,” Alfred said with a laugh.

 

Gil grimaced. “Okay just because I had to take a sixth year doesn’t mean I won’t graduate this time. As long as I pass all my classes I’ll be good to go. I’m really hoping Professor Sievert doesn’t fail me based on attendance alone,” she said, crossing her fingers.

 

“Maybe if you actually went to class…” Mattie said.

 

“It’s so _booorring_ …” she groaned, flopping her head onto the table. Mattie ran a hand through Gil’s pixie-cut short hair, patting her on the back. Gil turned her head to look at the two of them. “It’s just… it gets harder every day, you know…?” she said, sitting back up and picking at her fingernails.

 

Mattie nodded in understanding. Alfred knew that Mattie had been having some difficulties too. She had a lot of social anxiety that sometimes kept her from making it out of her apartment and to class. Honestly though, Gil had really been a lot of help when it came to that sort of thing. She was really good at helping Mattie calm down when she was having her attacks, and she was also really good with encouraging her, helping her not feel so down, and making her feel safe and comfortable enough to leave her apartment. Alfred had always been around to help as much as he could, but it was nice having Gil too. And Gil was just… right for Mattie. She had the enthusiasm and that self-confidence that Alfred saw sometimes rubbed off on Mattie. But she was always careful to not get too carried away and was really considerate of Mattie. Alfred was glad Gil was his friend and could be there for Mattie too. And he could also see how much Mattie adored Gil as well. They balanced each other well.

“Were we going to have lunch now?” Gil asked. “You said you’d only be here a little bit- I’m _huuuungryyy_ ,” she whined, sitting back up.

 

“Just a minute, I needed to talk to Alfred about Antonio…”

 

Gil perked up a bit, liking hearing gossip on him. She also enjoyed pranking Antonio way too much. Alfred sometimes helped her out but he mainly let Antonio and her go at each other in their little wars.

 

“What’s up with Antonio?” Alfred asked, confused. Antonio hadn’t said anything to him and he didn’t know why he would be talking to his sister instead… They didn’t even live together. Gil it was more understandable but Mattie?

 

“He wants to propose to Romona,” Mattie said.

 

“And? I’ve known that…”

 

“He wanted my opinion on rings but… I honestly don’t know her all that well… Gil doesn’t either…”

 

“You think I do?” Alfred asked. Sure he and Romona hung out from time to time but they weren’t best friends. Sometimes they liked to go to Buffalo Wild Wings together and shout at sports games while eating spicy wings but that was the extent of their relationship.

 

“Well… yeah,” Mattie said weakly. “Have you heard anything from her…?’

 

Alfred knew Romona had confessed she’d wanted to propose to Antonio but he was under the impression that was confidential information he shouldn’t be blabbing to others. “Uh… not really… I’ll talk to her about it, okay? Well I mean… I’m not gonna tell her that Antonio’s gonna do anything but… I’ll just try to get what I can from her.”

 

Mattie smiled and nodded. “Thanks… It’s just… I want something to reassure Antonio a bit… We went to look at rings and he got a little bit too freaked out. I thought I was the only one in our group that had that much anxiety,” she laughed. Alfred laughed too, watching Gil take Mattie’s hand and intertwine their fingers. “Well, I promised Gil lunch so we should get going now… Sorry to bother you while you’re working.”

 

“It’s really okay dude, chill.”

 

Gil and Mattie got up from the table, waving goodbye and leaving Alfred there with his books and laptop. He sighed, rubbing his eyes. He really needed to get working on this paper more. Especially with Arthur not being here it was the optimal time… Despite that though… Alfred couldn’t help but want Arthur to show up.

 

Now he knew he was crazy. He actually wanted Arthur to come yell at him, and watch those eyebrows scrunch up… and the way he had spattering of freckles on his cheeks and those glasses… Alfred shook his head, sighing.

 

A student was watching him and he flushed a bit. He pulled his laptop closer and started typing again, not being able to stop himself from glancing up every time someone who vaguely looked like Arthur walked by him.

 

\--

 

About a week later Alfred found that Arthur still hadn’t returned to the library. He’d stopped by a few times during the past few days to get books and found himself writing more of his paper there or studying for other classes. Every time he came in though he found no sign of Arthur. Part of him wondered if Arthur had quit or something like that… He’d even put off returning some books so that he’d have greater chance of Arthur being there.

 

He looked like an idiot too, asking the people behind the counter if Arthur was working and having them stare at him strangely. Today it was the girl who’d picked up his notebook who was working the counter. He walked up slowly, a book in his hand to return.

 

She smiled when she saw him, closing her book and sitting up a bit. “Can I help you with something?” she asked, tucking hair behind her ear. She was cute too, petite with long brown hair. Alfred had seen her work with Arthur before and was amazed at how small and pretty much adorable the two of them looked together… Not that he wanted them to be together…

 

“Ah yeah just… just returning a book,” he said, passing it over to her.

 

“Okay,” she said cheerfully, scanning the book back in. When Alfred didn’t move away from the counter she looked at him questioningly. “Did you need something else?”

 

“No er- yes… well, not really I was just… is Arthur working?” he asked, wanting to smack himself in the face.

 

“Arthur? Ah no I’m sorry… He’s sick right now so he’s been pretty much bed-ridden,” she responded. “Did you need him?” she asked, slightly too interested than other people would be. Alfred wondered why…

 

At least he knew now why Arthur hadn’t been at the library, and he was actually kind of happy he hadn’t quit. “No no… Ah thank you…”

 

“He should be back soon,” she said, smiling at him all too knowingly. It freaked Alfred out a bit. Was she reading his mind? “I think he said he’ll try to make it in tomorrow if he can. Did you want his contact information?”

 

Alfred shook his head. “No no it’s all right.” He stepped away from the desk. Why was she so willing to give out Arthur’s number to strangers? Did she do that for everyone who asked about him? Alfred couldn’t imagine other people asking about him other than to report him for yelling at them too much… Another part of Alfred didn’t want other people asking for his number or contact information at all.

 

“Have a nice day,” she said, smiling.

 

“You too.” Alfred headed out of the library, hands on the straps of his backpack.

 

\--

 

The next day Alfred decided to walk to class which was a poor decision on his part. He was about a half mile away when when the sky started to darken and the clouds gathered, preparing for a storm. He tried walking quickly but he didn’t make it in time before the sky opened up and it began to pour. Alfred used his backpack, holding it over his head, and ran under the cover of the outside awning of the local coffee shop. He stood there, mulling it over in his head on who he should call to come pick him up.

 

Alfred saw another guy run under the awning out of the corner of his eye, standing about five feet or so away from him but his back was to him so Alfred couldn’t see his face. He seemed rather familiar though but Alfred couldn’t place where he’d seen him before. Perhaps a class? Alfred’s glasses were wet so he’d taken them off to dry them on the bottom of his shirt. Because of this though it made seeing things a bit too blurry for his liking.

 

The guy seemed preoccupied with protecting his bag more than he seemed to care about getting rained on, because he had it under his shirt. His hair was wet and his shirt was sticking to his thin torso. As he peeled the bag out from under his shirt the fabric raised up some, showing off the pale skin of the small of his back. Alfred noticed he had a bit of a swell to his hips that most guys he knew didn’t have.  Alfred kind of wanted to hold onto those hips… he imagined it would be great while having sex to just manhandle them.

 

He cleared his throat, trying also to clear his mind of those kind of thoughts. Unfortunately for Alfred, the guy didn’t seem to notice him and so Alfred took a moment to admire the way he looked standing there. He was rather petite for a guy, and the skinny jeans he wore made his legs look way better than anybody’s should, especially his ass.

 

Alfred was going to try to say something to him about the weather when it hit him where he’d seen him before. “Arthur…?”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Three Notes: 97% of my fanfics are alfred and arthur not spending time together or talking to one another. the other 3% is them having sex. lol. ya’ll like “just cut out that 97% just make it 100% porn” all right all right i get it.


	4. Chapter Four

 

What Arthur originally thought to have been just a cold had turned into strep throat and an ear infection within the matter of a day. He thought he’d been getting better until about a week ago when he woke up wondering if he’d been hit by a car in his sleep. He’d made Francis get him some medicine and had been bedridden ever since. Last night and that morning had been the first time Arthur had not been lying around feeling miserable. It felt great.

 

He’d decided to run by their local coffee shop “The Steam” for their tea. They had a large variety of teas Arthur couldn’t really find at other places, and some of their own mixes you could buy in loose leaf.

 

Unfortunately, he’d forgotten to check the weather, so halfway there he’d been caught in the rain. He had books in his bag which he was worried about, so he stuffed it under his shirt and ran. He was soaked when he finally got under the awning, breathing heavily and shivering. His hair was sticking to his forehead, getting in his eyes. He pulled the bag out from under his shirt, hoping the books hadn’t gotten wet.

 

He was about to open the bag when he heard his name… Or at least thought he heard his name being spoken. He turned around quickly. He hadn’t even realized that someone else had been standing under the awning too.

 

It was Alfred. What was Alfred doing here? Arthur flushed slightly. He could see Alfred too was just as soaked as he was. Wait-

 

“You know my name?” he asked, surprised. He couldn’t recall ever telling Alfred his name. He technically wasn’t even supposed to know Alfred’s name but he was just going to look past that.

 

This time it was Alfred’s turn to flush. “Uh yeah… I uh… Heard that girl call you that- you know… The one you work with?”

 

Arthur figured Alfred must have been talking about Elizaveta. He didn’t know when Alfred would have heard her and him talking. It’d been a week ago since he’d last seen Alfred in library… Perhaps Elizaveta had been talking about him to someone else…

 

“Oh uh… Can I… Can I help you with something?” Arthur asked, not knowing what he could help Alfred with. This wasn’t the fucking library god he was so stupid. “Er… did you need something?”

 

“Need? Oh uh… no, no I just… didn’t- couldn’t tell if that was you… from behind…”

 

The two of them stood there, silent. There was a big awkwardness hanging between them, both never having talked to one another outside of Arthur telling Alfred to pay his fines. He didn’t know anything about him. What was he supposed to say?

 

“So uh I’m Alfred… I heard you’ve been sick.”

 

“Really?” Arthur asked, a bit too quickly. He tucked a bit of hair behind his ear, nervously fidgeting. He cursed himself inwardly. He was going to make a fool of himself. “Yes ah, nice to meet you… Alfred… I’ve had strep throat and an ear infection- don’t worry I’m not contagious anymore.”

 

Alfred gave him a sympathetic look. “Sorry to hear that- that sucks… Should you be out and about right now? You’re drenched too… Let’s go inside…” Alfred said hastily, moving over to open the door for Arthur.

 

Arthur nodded and ducked his head, going past Alfred into the cafe. When they were inside Arthur moved towards the counter, getting in line. “Were you getting something?” he asked Alfred.

 

“Nah I was just using their awning for the time being…” Alfred said, standing off to the side so another girl could get in line behind Arthur. Arthur watched as Alfred took a seat near the corner, setting his backpack on the table. He had gotten some paper towels and was attempting to pat himself down. Arthur ordered himself the biggest cup of tea they had then hesitantly inched over to where Alfred was, wondering if Alfred wanted to continue their conversation or wanted to be left alone.

 

Alfred noticed him and smiled slightly, moving his backpack and motioning to the other chair. Arthur nodded and sat down, setting his bag on the table next to him. He fished his phone from his pocket. He would need to call to get a ride from someone if this rain kept up.

 

“Were you on your way to somewhere?” Arthur asked.

 

“I have class in-” Alfred looked at a watch on his wrist. “About thirty minutes so I still have some time. I’m probably gonna need a ride.” He too was now trying to get his phone out of his backpack. “What about you?”

 

“I’m not going to go back to classes until tomorrow… I just wanted their tea. This morning has been the first time I’ve been able to get up and move around,” Arthur explained. He heard them call his name before Alfred could say anything and stood up to go get it.

 

When he got back Alfred was on the phone so Arthur sat there and texted Kiku. He was afraid if he called Kiku would be in class. Alfred was talking quietly, just little yes’s and no’s, but the other person’s voice on the phone sounded angry. Arthur sipped his tea, burning his tongue. His eyes watered a little bit, and it wasn’t until Alfred met his eyes that Arthur realized he’d been staring at Alfred. He looked away quickly, down at his phone.

 

Kiku had responded, so Arthur asked him if he was free to give him a ride back home. He figured he shouldn’t sit around in wet clothes too long because he might make him sick all over again. He was waiting for a text back from Kiku when Alfred finally got off the phone.

 

“Sorry about that,” Alfred said, right as soon as a huge clap of thunder rolled through the sky. It was so loud that some of the other people in shop looked out the window. The wind had picked up and rain was being slapped against the windows of the coffee shop. Some people moved a bit away from them. The heavy rainpour only increased and Arthur saw people outside running into buildings.

 

“Geez that’s some rain,” Alfred said, looking out the window. “I didn’t know there was gonna be such a thunderstorm today.”

 

Arthur nodded in agreement.

 

Alfred tapped his fingers on the table. “Somebody getting you?” he asked.

 

Arthur glanced at his phone- Kiku hadn’t responded yet. “Not at the moment.”

 

“Hopefully,” Alfred said. There was another silence between them, Arthur sipping at his tea again. “I returned a couple more of my books,” Alfred said with a grin.

 

“Not all of them?”

 

Alfred rolled his eyes. “Well I’m still using some of them and… and might have misplaced them.”

 

“You should put them in a place you’ll remember them… You didn’t pay off any of your fines?”

Alfred cringed a bit. “Nah… sorry…” He sat up a bit. “Is that all you talk about?”

 

“No,” Arthur replied shortly, checking his phone again. “I just know a lot of students who try to forget their way out of paying fines and then have problems later on. They try to claim those fines are false and such. Also, I know a lot of students who lose their books or return them nearly in pieces. It’s hard enough to get funding for libraries so we can’t always replace books and equipment that easily. Since it’s a school library we do have more security than public libraries, but still… The school puts more emphasis on sports and science and promoting the campus. They could really care less about books.”

 

“I can promise you two things- I haven’t torn or spilled anything on any of the books, and I’m not gonna try to get out of paying a fine. I’m honestly gonna bring the money I’m just super forgetful. I got a lot of term end papers coming up and graduation ya know…? Wait… that reminds me- what grade are you in?” Alfred asked. He had no idea even if Arthur was older or younger than him, or the same age.

 

“I’m a graduate student,” Arthur said. “In my third year.”

 

“Aw man so you’re older than me. That’s neat. You work in the library part time then?”

 

Arthur nodded. “I get some money from my assistantship but it’s not a lot. Are you planning on going to graduate school after you graduate?”

 

Alfred shrugged. “I honestly have no idea what I want to do… I have an internship lined up after I graduate- a paid one, but that’s a temporary thing you know? I took the GRE and applied to some schools. I got accepted into a few but I’m still not really sure graduate school is for me… I kinda wanna do other things- like go right into work. I want to travel too.”

 

“And pay back student loans.”

 

Alfred laughed. “Yeah that too. Graduate school would just add to the loans, even though it would postpone them slightly.”

 

“Hmm… True…” Arthur felt that Alfred should do what he wanted to. No sense in going to graduate school if it wasn’t something he was interested in. Arthur himself had been reluctant at first but now he was really happy he’d stuck with it. He’d known others who’d gone into graduate school with him and then stopped about a year into it, deciding it wasn’t really for them. He only had about a year left and then he too would have to get into the working world. It was slightly stressful and overwhelming.

There was a flash of lightning followed by another round of thunder. The lights flickered in the cafe then shut off. There was still light coming in from outside, and lights from the screens of people’s laptops and cellphones. There was slight murmuring, people sitting still and watching the storm outside. The lights flickered suddenly and came back on, the employees looking relieved.

 

“Wow…” Alfred said.

 

Arthur felt his cell phone vibrating and picked it up. “Kiku?”

 

He saw Alfred look over at him when he heard the name.

 

“Arthur I am almost there but I have to drive very slowly...” Kiku said, the phone buzzing for a second from the static.

 

“If you don’t want to drive in this weather you shouldn’t,” Arthur said. “I didn’t know it would be this bad I’m sorry…”

 

“You’re sick Arthur. You should be at home still resting unless you want to get worse again. I’m almost here anyway.”

 

Arthur looked outside as if he would just suddenly and magically see Kiku’s car. “Text me when you’re here and be careful,” he said, worried. He didn’t like relying on other people for rides, and he especially didn’t like it when the weather was as bad as this.

 

He hung up and looked at Alfred.

 

“You know Kiku? Kiku Honda?” Alfred asked, surprise in his voice.

 

Arthur nodded. “You know him as well?”

 

“Yeah he’s working on a project with a friend of mine. What about you?”

 

“I’ve shared a few classes with him before. We have the same majors basically so we like to get together to talk. He’s very nice.”

 

Alfred nodded. “I haven’t spoken to him a whole lot but he seems nice. A little quiet though.”

 

Arthur laughed lightly and nodded. “He’ll be here soon- did you need a ride as well... ?” Arthur hadn’t asked and he didn’t want to leave Alfred stranded here, especially if he had class to get to.

 

“Well the person who is supposed to doesn’t know whether they’ll be able to or not… They’re supposed to text me about now…” Alfred frowned at his phone.

 

“You could ask Kiku…” Arthur said. “Since he’s on his way here already… I’m sure he wouldn’t mind, especially if he knows you.”

 

Alfred looked conflicted. “I don’t wanna bother him. If he’s gotta take you home first. You’re still sick aren’t you? And you’re soaked.”

 

“Thank you for reminding me,” Arthur said dryly. “I don’t mind waiting the other five minutes that it’s going to take to swing you by whatever campus building your class is in.”

 

Alfred chewed on his bottom lip, still looking hesitant.

 

Arthur’s phone buzzed with a text and he stood up. “Come out with me,” he said. Alfred stood up too and they left the cafe, looking for Kiku’s car. He had a this tiny car that Arthur always wondered where he’d gotten it. Despite it being so small, it made Kiku look even smaller sitting behind the wheel. Like a little old man. Arthur felt awkward and gangly trying to shove himself into the passenger side. He imagined Alfred would be the same.

 

Kiku made a little wave to Arthur, then looked surprised to see Alfred there too. Arthur quickly ran to the side of Kiku’s car, opening the door slightly, and squinting as the rain hit his face. “Kiku, could you please give Alfred a ride to class?”

 

“Yes yes, of course,” Kiku said, nodding. “Hurry, get in.” He motioned for Alfred to come over. Arthur set his bag onto the floor in the back, pushing the passenger seat forward so he could crawl in. He felt a hand on the small of the back help him into the car, and saw Alfred standing there, pushing the seat back and getting in after him. It was a five seater car but it only had two doors, you had to push the seats up to get into the back first.

 

Arthur shivered, meeting Kiku’s eyes in the rearview mirror.

 

“Thank you Kiku,” he said fervently, meaning it. “I’m sorry to make you carpool...”

 

“You don’t have to give me a ride, Kiku,” Alfred said. “I can try someone else.”  
  


Kiku shook his head, already pulling away from the curb. “Alfred it’s all right.”

 

“I’ll repay you,” Arthur tried to say and Kiku laughed slightly.

 

“Honestly I don’t mind. The rain is actually relaxing for me.”

 

“This? Is relaxing for you?” Alfred asked, skeptical.

 

“Yes very,” Kiku nodded, heading down the road.

 

Alfred glanced back at Arthur, meeting his eyes. The two of them were soaked again but Arthur felt a little warmth spread from his chest to his cheeks, a lump in his throat. He wondered if that was blush on Alfred’s cheeks he saw too or something else… Either way, despite the fact he was soaked and sick, he was very happy he’d decided to get tea that morning.

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Four Notes: i’m sorry all of my stories are centered around one or both of them being in college it is bc i too am in college and that is all i know. The Steam is a made up coffee shop loosely based off a coffee shop in my town. in fact, the library, the coffee shop, and any other place or school related events mentioned in this fic is a direct reference to my university because i have no imagination of my own. it’s still vague enough i feel that you’ll never be able to figure it out.


	5. Chapter Five

Alfred couldn’t get Arthur out of his head all through class. As soon as he had thanked Kiku for the ride and dashed into the building, then gotten to his seat, he was already thinking about him. And well about the fact he was soaked still and had no change of clothes. He slipped out of the class halfway through to go to the bathroom and stand under the blow dryers until he’d warmed up some.

 

He disregarded the weird looks as he made his way back to the classroom. Part of him wondered what Arthur was doing now? What tea had he been drinking? Another part of Alfred didn’t know why he didn’t just return all the books at once and pay off his fees, it would save him a lot of time and trips he wouldn’t have to make to the library. But parted of him wanted reasons to come back… part of him wanted to see Arthur again.

 

He put his head on the table in front of him, wanting class to be over, and wanting himself to not be such a hopeless sap. Arthur had looked really… really fucking adorable, sitting there and sipping at his tea. Alfred wanted to take him there again, wanted to go with him again when they weren’t soaked. He wanted to sit there and talk with him and then get to take him home… and then he wanted to take him to a restaurant, to a museum, anywhere Arthur wanted to go. Hell, even if it was another library. He could just imagine the way Arthur would get so excited… He probably like to sit at home reading and drinking tea and…

 

Dammit. Alfred hated himself when he got this way. He didn’t know how he’d gone from being so annoyed with Arthur to this, but it had always been like this. All his crushes he’d just gone full throttle with. He got too carried away in his head of them being together and then when he was rejected everything came crashing down on him. The few relationships he had been in he felt he’d over idealized the other person, and then when they had fallen short in the relationship it had ruined it. That was a while ago and Alfred now realized that had been wrong of him to expect such things of other people.

 

With Arthur though… Alfred hadn’t really felt anything for him outside of attraction to his physical appearance until now, which… to Alfred was too great. Arthur had this body Alfred wanted to hold, to have sitting on his lap, to have spooned next to him on the bed. He had the cutest curl of hair framing his face, freckles that were far too endearing, eyebrows that were really the largest eyebrows Alfred had ever seen, but it just made Arthur that much more appealing to Alfred.

 

Alfred had to slow himself down. He couldn’t get all head over heels with Arthur just yet. He didn’t really know him. Which was a problem. He didn’t want to fuck this up if there was a chance, so Alfred knew what he needed to do. He needed to hang out with Arthur again, and not just in the library. But would Arthur even want to hang out with him? He was probably busy with work and classes. Alfred was busy with classes too but he would make time. He wanted to make the time.

 

Did this make him creepy? He didn’t know. He couldn’t really tell. But to be honest if Arthur showed any signs of disinterest or clearly not wanting Alfred to talk to him Alfred would back off immediately. He’d seemed fine at the cafe earlier but maybe he’d felt forced to socialize? But then what had that look been in the car?

 

Alfred was still thinking about how to ask Arthur to hang out without making it seem like he wanted to go on a date but at the same time imply that if Arthur wanted it to be a date then it would be a date when he realized he had no way home and it was still raining. It was after class now and he was standing at an exit, rain still pouring outside, when he saw someone peer in through the little window on the door. They tried to jiggle the handle but apparently it was locked from the outside.

 

Alfred opened the door and was surprised to see Antonio standing there.

 

“Hey Antonio,” he said, moving to the side a bit so he could step inside. He shut the door behind him.

 

“Hola~ ¿Qué tal?”  

 

“I’m just trying to figure out how I’m getting home. It’s still raining and I don’t have my car,” Alfred said. “You?”

 

“I have to drop off a paper and that’s all. Romona is picking me up, so you can come with me,” Antonio said.

 

He and Alfred began walking down the hallway together. Alfred had been extremely lucky today in getting rides.

 

“So is Romona still mad at you?”

 

“Si… she is always mad at me though,” Antonio said, laughing. “Apparently not mad enough to leave me stranded on campus or make me walk home in the rain.”

 

“That’s good, ha… What were you fighting about the other night?”

 

“Fighting…?” Antonio looked confused.

 

“You know, the night she gave me a ride home. You saw her and took off running…?” Had they not been fighting then? Alfred didn’t want to think about what they’d been doing instead, and why she had needed to chase him down.

 

“Oh… Ah yes! Yes si… Well… I mean I told you I’ve been planning to propose to her, by the end of the year.”

 

Alfred nodded. He also secretly knew that Romona had been secretly planning to propose to Antonio, too. He didn’t know why they both felt they needed to come to him specifically to talk about it. He always felt that Antonio was closer to Gil and that she would understand more what Romona wanted. Alfred didn’t really know Romona at all other than she was usually in an irritable mood, cursed a lot, liked to beat Antonio up, and had a twin brother. Oh and she had great taste in wings and sports teams.

 

“What about it?”

 

“Well every time I try to really talk to her she always changes the subject… I haven’t mentioned marriage but I have tried to see whether or not she’s going to go somewhere far away after we graduate or what our plans even are… I assume we will not split up but… I feel we should talk about our plans… Do we want to live together or no? Are we ready for a long distance relationship…?” Antonio sighed. “I don’t know what she wants and I can’t talk to her because she runs away… It’s so hard to get a read on her…”

 

“I’m sorry Antonio…”

 

“Can you please talk to her?”

 

“Why me?”

 

“She seems to like you… You guys can go to BW-3s again and talk… She’s usually calmer with you.”

 

Alfred laughed. “If by calmer you mean shoveling wings into her mouth and yelling at the TV screen then yeah.”

 

Antonio laughed, stopping outside a door. There was a little box for mail that Antonio was going to slip his paper into when the door to the office opened. Antonio’s professor greeted them and she and Antonio immediately got into a discussion in Spanish that Alfred only half understood. He’d taken Spanish, enough to probably get himself around a Spanish speaking country all right. But he was nowhere near fluent.

 

He waited a bit of the ways away, letting them talk. Why was it that everyone wanted him to talk to Romona? Was she really calmer around him? He didn’t really know her. It wasn’t like he didn’t want to know her, he just didn’t. It was nice hanging out with her, and it was funny to hear her road rage when she was driving. Outside of that there wasn’t much…

 

Maybe if he did talk to her he could get some advice about Arthur. She probably wasn’t the best person to talk to about relationship advice or how to deal with crushes, but she was pretty down to earth. She wouldn’t sugar coat anything and would be honest and blunt with him, which was nice to have that perspective. It was kind of like Mattie’s bluntness sometimes. Maybe that’s how it was. Romona was kind of like a sister… maybe more so a cousin of Alfred’s. He didn’t get to see her a lot but when he did they hung out like they were family.

 

Alfred glanced over to see Antonio and the professor wrapping up their conversation. She nodded at him and he walked back over to Alfred. “Romona’s here,” he said.

 

They headed towards the front of the building, walking out to see Romona parked by the curb. It was still raining but it had eased up a bit. They got in, Romona nodding in greeting to Alfred.

 

She started talking very quickly at Antonio in Italian, and he just nodded, occasionally making a comment back in Italian as well. Alfred had been surprised when he’d first heard them talk in Italian together but kind of thought it was neat that the two of them spoke each other’s languages. He knew the two languages were similar in some aspects but that still must be difficult. Sometimes they talked to one another in Italian, sometimes Spanish, sometimes English, and sometimes a combination of all three. It was hard to follow, but Alfred didn’t mind. He was envious. He’d always wanted to be fluent in another language. He should really have Antonio practice more Spanish with him.

 

“Alfred,” Romona said suddenly.

 

“Yea?”

 

“Do you need to go somewhere else are you going back to the apartment?”

 

“The apartment, please.” Alfred wanted to change out his damp clothes. He wanted to take a very hot shower, put on sweats, and get some food. He was starving.

 

She nodded and started driving.

 

\--

 

When they got back she and Antonio disappeared into the bedroom together again, now transitioned over into Spanish. Before they’d disappeared though Alfred had asked her if she wanted to go to BW3’s with him sometime that week, seeing the nod of approval from Antonio. She’d agreed and then they’d disappeared.

 

Gil was in the living room “studying”. She had the TV on and seemed more interested in whatever was on the screen more so than what was in her textbook.

 

Alfred walked up to the side of the couch. “How was lunch with Mattie?”

 

Gil glanced at him. “Swell, as always,” she grinned.

 

“That’s good,” Alfred said. “She told me about your travel plans.”

 

“Right right… I’m excited but you know… nothing’s set…”

 

“Well if you do get to go that will be sweet. You’ll have to take a lot of pictures.”

 

“I know I know,” Gil said, waving her hand. “No shush- this guy’s about to get eaten.”

 

Alfred rolled his eyes and headed to the bathroom. After a long shower, and a long time sitting at his computer in a towel in his bedroom, he finally forced himself to get up and get some food. Unfortunately, their fridge was basically void of anything aside from condiments and juice.

 

“Hey I’m going to the store, do you need anything?” he asked Gil, grabbing his keys off the counter.

 

“Milk,” she said and he nodded.

 

He was afraid to walk back and ask Antonio but he didn’t want to go without asking. He walked towards his bedroom, knocking.

 

“¿Qué?” he heard Romona say, not sure if she was mad or not.

 

“I’m going to the store, does Antonio need anything?” Alfred asked.

 

“Nope,” Antonio said cheerfully. He heard Antonio laugh and Romona grumble something. He headed back towards the living room. “Be back in a bit,” he said, opening the door and closing it behind himself.

 

At the store Alfred was taking his time looking through the frozen goods when he heard a familiar voice arguing with someone. He went to the end of the aisle, trying to figure out where they were when he saw Arthur standing there talking on his phone. He appeared his normal angry self except with a bit of a nasally tone from a stuffed nose. He was arguing with whoever was on the other end of the line. He hung up as Alfred stepped closer and when he turned around Alfred saw him physically jump in surprise.

 

“Hey Arthur,” Alfred said, waving a bit. “Twice in one day, huh?” he laughed. He wasn’t intentionally trying to run into Arthur but he wasn’t upset that he had. He could ask him if he wanted to hang out another time now, without having to go to the library.

 

“Yes I suppose so…”

 

Alfred noticed Arthur had changed from what he’d been wearing at the cafe, which made sense. He was wearing another oversized sweater with the sleeves rolled up around his elbows, with a pair of faded jeans. He was holding two bottles of wine and Alfred eyed them.

 

“Francis- my roommate, he wants me to get him some wine…”

 

“Is that who you were on the phone with just now?”

 

Arthur nodded. “He keeps calling and changing his mind. I told him I’m getting these two and that’s it. If he calls again I’m ignoring him.” Arthur huffed, setting the wine into his cart. He brushed a strand of hair behind his ear.

 

“Ah I see… Shouldn’t you still be resting at home? Why isn’t he the one who’s getting the wine himself?” Alfred pushed his cart out of the way of a family that was walking by, moving closer to Arthur.

 

“He’s at work right now and the store will be closed by the time he’s done his shift. And also there’s no food in my house… I haven’t had an appetite so I haven’t bought any groceries recently.”

 

“Same,” Alfred said, then felt stupid. “Well, not same, but… I’ve been busy so… no grocery shopping.” God he was so lame. Even if Arthur was into dudes he probably wouldn’t be into someone like Alfred.

 

“Right, I understand,” Arthur said. “Well… I don’t want to keep you from shopping…” He put his hand on his cart.

 

“No- no you weren’t,” Alfred said, rushed. He didn’t want Arthur to leave quite yet. “Hey wait um er… so… I was wondering if you wanted to hang out? Like… not at the library or in a grocery store… We could go back to that cafe?”

 

Arthur was silent for too long, seeming to be thinking over what Alfred had said.

 

“We don’t have to I just… you seemed like a cool guy… just… wanted to talk…”  
  


“Sure, all right,” Arthur agreed. He swiped his phone screen, navigating to something Alfred couldn’t see. “What’s your phone number?” Arthur asked.

 

“My phone number? Oh yeah um one second…” Alfred didn’t know why he was trying to pull his phone out too, he knew his number by memory. He said it to Arthur, giving him time to type it into his phone. “Just text me, that way I can get yours too.”

 

Arthur nodded, typing it into his phone. He held his phone with both his hands, typing with his thumbs which Alfred thought was kind of a peculiar way of texting. But the way his nose scrunched up when he made a typo and the way his slender fingers held the phone… they were nice… “I sent it,” Arthur said, bringing Alfred back to reality.

 

“Right,” he looked at his phone in time to see a new message pop up. It just said “Hello. - Arthur” and Alfred added the contact, not letting Arthur know he’d added him in his phone as ‘Artie’. “Cool. Awesome. Yea. Thanks,” Alfred said, looking back up at Arthur who was staring at him with an unreadable expression. “Well… nice running into you again. I’ll let you leave now.”

 

Arthur nodded. “You as well,” he said, smiling a bit. He headed off, pushing his cart past Alfred and saying goodbye. Alfred stood and watched for a second longer before turning back to focus on groceries. On the outside he tried to keep in cool as he finished shopping, but inwardly he was cheering the whole time.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Five Notes: i don’t speak spanish. i took one semester of italian. i used Ramona instead of chiara bc i’d never heard chiara before i started using ramona so i just stick with it. ALSO TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY HAPPY BIRTHDAY MEEEE lol.


	6. Chapter Six

About a few days later and Alfred still hadn’t built up the courage to text Arthur to ask him to hang out. Arthur hadn’t texted either but Alfred didn’t expect him to. He was sitting in the restaurant at a bar stool waiting for Romona to get there, listening to the announcer yell about some foul he wasn’t really paying attention to. The game wouldn’t start for at least another half hour, enough time for Romona to get out of her class and come over.

He had the phone in his hand, fingers hovered over the keys. He’d planned about a 100 different versions of the same text but couldn’t bring himself to hit the send button.

Alfred took a sip of his Coke, glancing around at the rest of the customers. It was before the dinner rush so it was pretty dead in there. A few older guys were watching some beer commercial and talking quietly with one another, while a few students were sitting at high tops on their phones.

Hearing movement from his left Alfred looked to see Romona clambering up onto the bar stool. He forgot sometimes how short she was and felt bad that he’d picked a tall place to sit.

“Hey,” Alfred said.

“Hey yourself,” she said. She seemed to be in a good mood. Alfred raised an eyebrow at her and she smirked a bit. The waiter came to take her order then so she held up a finger to Alfred to let him know she would tell him in just a second. She gave the guy her drink order, showing him the ID, then glanced at Alfred. “Are we getting what he normally get?” Alfred nodded. “We’ll have chips and salsa, to start, then we’ll do the wings.”

“Ok! Which ones?” the guy said a bit too cheerfully. He was probably bored out of his mind being here at this time of day.

“Salt and Vinegar, Caribbean Jerk, Desert Heat, and Mango Habanero,” she said, collecting up the menus to hand to him. He nodded, jotting it down quickly, then took the menus and headed off.

“I found it,” she said, a spark in her eyes.

“Found what?” Alfred asked.

“The perfect ring,” she said. “It was his size. Perfect. Suits him so well. The price is great too. I can’t believe I found it. I got it already. I have it with me do you want to see it?”

“Wait wait seriously? Wow yeah of course I want to see it!” he said. She pulled her purse up into her lap, searching through it before pulling out a little ring box and handing it to Alfred. He opened it, seeing the small band. “You’re right! I can really see him wearing this.” He pulled it out carefully, examining it.

“I’m going to go get our initials engraved on it,” she said, a bit flustered. “Do you think it’s all right? Be honest.”

“In all honesty I think it’s great,” Alfred said earnestly. “I know Antonio will really love it. Trust me,” he said. “Oh but…”

“What is it?” she asked quickly, concern on her face.

“Well… it’s actually about Antonio…” He could see her physically pale. “Hey hey calm down… It’s not that bad it’s just… he’s been worrying about you recently.”

She relaxed only a little bit. “Worrying… about me? Why?” She seemed upset. “He hasn’t talked to me about anything… If anything I feel like he’s been a bit distant.”

_Well that’s probably because he’s trying to plan a proposal to you and doesn’t know you’re trying to do the same_ , Alfred thought to himself. “He said the same about you.”

She looked more upset. “Well… I’ve really been trying to set up this proposal… get the ring… I… I really don’t want to mess this up, you know? I want everything to go right…” She frowned and leaned her face on her hand. “I guess I have been distant… I just… he’s been bringing up graduation so much recently… Every time he talks about it I feel like he wants to tell me that he wants to go our separate ways… I don’t want to hear that… I just think, if I propose, he’ll stay… He won’t want to leave me.”

Alfred felt upset hearing that. “Romona…” He reached forward and ruffled her hair, watching her grimace at him. “You’re silly if you think he’s not head over heels in love with you.” He watched her blush, hiding her face behind her hand more. “I told you, I know Antonio, and I know absolutely 100 percent that he’s not going to dump you after graduation. 100 percent. Don’t fight me on this.”

She smiled a little bit. “I’ll fight you whenever I want,” she said.

Alfred laughed a bit. “You need to get those worries out of your head and talk with him. He’s not going to break up with you, he’s not going to tell you that you guys need to go your separate ways, I promise.”

“You better not be lying Jones,” she said, sitting up a bit more. “I know where you live.”

Alfred laughed again. “Yeah yeah I know…”

“Thank you,” she said, grumbling it out.

“You’re welcome,” he said, leaning on the counter. “Now, about the game…”

A while later after too many wings, celery sticks, and screaming at the TV, Alfred and Romona walked out of the restaurant, stomachs full and throats sore. Romona was a bit stumbly so Alfred walked with her to the bus stop to make sure she didn’t fall over in the middle of the street and get run over. He could only imagine how much that would upset Antonio.

“So… what’s been going on with you…?” Romona asked, tipsy but still coherent enough to have a normal conversation without slurring all over the place.

“Well, I’m supposed to talk to you about the guy in the library…”

“The guy in the library?” Romona asked, frowning.

Alfred explained to her about Arthur, about him yelling about the fines, about the meet up at the cafe and the grocery store while they waited for the bus. He told her a bit about how he felt, editing out all the really creepy sappy parts. She didn’t really need to know he thought Arthur’s ass looked really nice in skinny jeans. Arthur himself looked really nice too.

“Well… what do you want me to say?” she asked. “You obviously like him… you’ve gotten his number, you’ve semi-arranged to meet up… Why not ask him out?”

“You make it sound easy.”

“Well get a little drunk first and then do it.”

“I don’t think being drunk will be a good impression when I ask him out.”

“That’s why I said a ‘little’,” she said, pointing at him.

To be honest Alfred couldn’t really remember why he needed to talk to Romona about Arthur. He felt though it was nice to talk with her anyway. Even if it was about his stupid crushes and lame behaviors around said crushes.

“Go to the library tomorrow and smooch him.”

“Romona no.”

“At least go and talk to him again. You’re never gonna get to know him if you keep avoiding him. Text him, talk to him, do something. You’ve only got the rest of the semester left.”

This was true.

“I guess you’re right… Tomorrow it is then,” Alfred sighed.

Romona grinned and slapped him on the back, pulling her bus pass out of her bag. “Thanks for the walk back. Tell Antonio I’ll be over tomorrow.”

“Will do,” Alfred said, waving goodbye as she got on.

\--

Arthur sat at the dining room table, notes and papers spread out all over the table in front of him, his reading glasses on. Francis walked in the room, rolling his eyes at the sight. “If you throw yourself into work so soon you’ll get sick again.”

“I’ve taken far too long a vacation already. And I won’t get sick again. It’s all cleared out,” Arthur snapped back.

“Mhmm…” Francis said, not believing him.

Arthur tapped his pencil furiously against the desk, chewing on his bottom lip.

“Somebody seems a little bit upset…” Francis took a seat at the table, looking at Arthur. “What is it? Do you need to talk to someone?”

Arthur glared up at him through his eyelashes but then suddenly set the pencil down. “It’s stupid…” he muttered.

“I don’t believe you,” Francis said, putting his hand on Arthur’s arm. “Calm down and tell me…”

“There’s a guy that I like,” Arthur blurted out, meeting Francis’s eyes.

“Is that all?” Francis asked, slightly amused. Arthur always had this strange habit of getting really angry when he liked someone and Francis didn’t know why. He just always seemed to become very pissed at himself for actually liking someone else.

“No,” Arthur grumbled, huffing and leaning against the back of the chair. “I just… He gave me his number…”

“Isn’t that a good sign?” Francis asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I don’t know… He seems very friendly, so him probably giving me the phone number is because he wants someone to... I don’t know, hang out with I suppose. And not… not someone to date. We’ve only talked a little bit and most of it has been me harping on him for library fines… I honestly have no idea why he would want my number if I’ve left such a bad impression on him…” Arthur sighed.

“If he’s the one who asked for your number he most likely doesn’t hate you. Have you texted him?”

“No… And he hasn’t texted me either… I don’t know if he just wants the number to have or what… does he expect me to text him first? What would I say? I’m not up for small talk about how we’re doing…”

“Why don’t you plan to meet with him somewhere?”

“And not have it sound too much like a date? This is so confusing… I don’t even know if he’s into guys or not…”

Francis gave him a sympathetic smile. “Well you’re not going to find out by avoiding him… Try to text him, give it some thought. Is he graduating?” Arthur nodded. “Well you’ve only got the rest of the semester left then. If he is into guys and you have a chance then you’ll be happy you didn’t waste it… And if he isn’t then once the semester ends you’ll never have to see or talk to him again.”

Arthur sat silently for a moment, hating when Francis was right. When it came to relationships and how to deal with these sorts of situations, he usually was. Which was always strange to Arthur because Francis never really had any relationships of his own. Did he even like anyone at the moment? Arthur squinted his eyes at Francis and Francis looked at him with a confused expression.

“Do… do you need a better prescription for your reading glasses?” Francis asked, laughing a bit.

Arthur frowned and shook his head. “I was just wondering if there was anyone you liked… You talk about everyone else’s relationships except your own. I can’t remember the last time you went on a date.”

Francis laughed. “Ah well… I like to help others solve their problems of love…”

“So sappy.”

“You may think so, but it’s important to me. And what’s not very important to me is dating right now. When the person comes along they will come along. There is no need to rush it or seek it out.”

“All right all right,” Arthur said, humming a bit in amusement. Francis never seemed too bothered to talk about embarrassing topics like Arthur was. He didn’t know whether that was admirable or not.

 

“At least try to text him by tomorrow,” Francis said, standing up.

Arthur nodded, watching him walk out of the room.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Six Notes: I’ve never eaten wings at Buffalo Wild Wings. I have been to one though. also i almost posted up chapter five again. oopsies.   
> thanks for the happy birthdays!


	7. Chapter Seven

It was a weekend today and at this time in the evening the library was unusually quiet and very much empty. Arthur figured that those students who liked to party on the weekend were going at it as much as they could before the end of the semester. He had heard a fraternity was giving out free bottles of wine to everyone who showed up and he could imagine that being incentive enough not to be studying at the library.

He watched the last student in the library pack up their things slowly and then head out. Elizaveta came up to him, smiling a bit.

“You’re done your shift?” Arthur asked.

She nodded. “Will you be lonely here without me?”

Arthur laughed. “I’ll probably read or get out my laptop,” he said. “I can’t believe there’s no one here tonight. I only see it this empty during the summer. I know there are end of the year fraternity parties going on, but not _all_ of the students would be there.”

“I heard there are some family events going on around campus and at the local restaurants.”

“Really?”

“Yes… it’s mostly for the parents of students who are seniors and will be graduating soon.”

“I guess that’s where they are then… Still…”

Arthur glanced around the library. When students wouldn’t go to the back the lights would automatically turn off, so the back section of the library was dark now. It was slightly ominous. Sometimes when Arthur had opened the library on the weekends with all the lights off he’d felt something would jump out at him from the shelves. Now that Elizaveta was leaving for the night he didn’t want to get himself all riled up. Most likely students would be parting with their parents soon after they finished dinner and would be pouring back into the library. He hoped.

Not that he really minded the silence and the quiet for once. He could do stuff on his laptop without anyone bugging him.

“Good night Arthur,” Elizaveta said, clocking out at the little machine on the wall.

“Good night,” he said in return, smiling a bit.

She nodded then headed off the back exit for employees. Arthur heard the sound of a door opening and closing and then it was silent.

There were clicks from the heaters and sounds from the building settling, but other than that Arthur couldn’t hear anything. He checked his phone. No new messages. Arthur had been too scared to send a text that day, even though Francis had told him to do so. He felt each day that passed when he didn’t text Alfred was another day further and further apart they grew. He sighed, looking at the entrance to the library.

He sat around a bit, clicking through some news articles before deciding he should get up and see if there were any books misplaced or not reshelved. He wandered towards the back of the library, looking down the rows. He liked the library because of multiple reasons. For starters the smell of the books, paper, glue, all of it was calming and familiar. Libraries were also usually quiet, even if there were people there nobody was yelling. It helped when Arthur had headaches. Arthur also really liked seeing the books people checked out. Some of them he would take for himself to read instead of reshelving them. It was a bit distracting though when he was supposed to be shelving. Elizaveta would find him with a cart still stacked with books that he’d been reading, forgetting that he was at work. It wasn’t a very difficult job. It didn’t require a lot of thinking or heavy lifting. It repetitious and calming and Arthur enjoyed it far too much. He wouldn’t mind working in a library for the rest of his life. He loved books.

He sighed, shifting a couple books over to make room for one that had been left lying horizontally atop the rest. It was no wonder he didn’t go on dates.

He was finishing up the first row when he heard footsteps. He craned his neck to look down the aisle at the front desk but didn’t see anyone waiting there. He stayed still, slowing his breathing and straining his ears to try and hear the footsteps again but there was only silence. He frowned, wondering if he’d only imagined it and if his ears were just playing tricks on him.

He went back to shelving when the light above him flickered and then went out. He expected it to come back on in a second but it didn’t. He frowned because just a while ago he’d let maintenance know about that same light and apparently they hadn’t gotten around to replacing it. He wondered if he should just continue shelving books in the dark or go see if he could find someone to replace it now. He didn’t even know if anyone from maintenance would still be around… Perhaps the janitorial staff would know?

He heard a thump and spun around, heart speeding up a bit. Someone was either there and didn’t know he was there, or they were playing tricks on him… Or it was a monster that had come to kill him while he was alone in the dark in the library. All were plausible options.

He gently picked up a book, ready to use it as a weapon. He silently apologized to the book for planning to use it in such a violent method but it was him or the book and he wanted to live. He didn’t know why he didn’t just speak and ask if someone was there but if he spoke and that drew attention to himself…

He felt stupid. Monsters weren’t real and didn’t exist. He snuck down to the end of the aisle, peering around the shelves. The problem with these shelves is that they had backs so you couldn’t just peer between the books and look that way. At least it gave him more cover. He didn’t see anyone so he backed up, turning around. He heard the noise again and quickly tiptoed in that direction.

He saw vague movement from down a couple aisles and inched that way, glad for the cover of the darkness. He swung himself around the shelf, ready to launch himself at the object, but when he looked no one was there. He felt confused. He was sure he’d seen someone.

He went back to where the cart was in the darkest spot and was about to put the book back down, telling himself he was overreacting, when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He spun around, book posed-

“ _Alfred!?_ ”

Alfred doubled back, ripping his hand off Arthur’s shoulder. Arthur had already started swinging his book and felt it swipe right in front of Alfred, nearly hitting him square in the chest.

“Whoa holy shit- what the fuck??” Alfred backed away a couple more steps, bumping into the shelves.

Arthur was shocked. “Were you stalking me?” he demanded, angry now. Alfred had scared the shit out of him.

“Stalking you?” Alfred asked, flabbergasted. “Do you always attack students with books?’

“It’s _dark_ and you didn’t _say_ anything! I thought… I thought…” Arthur huffed, heart racing. He had never had something so terrifying happen in his life. “Have you been hiding in the shelves?”

“Hiding in the shelves?” Alfred asked, incredulous. “No?? I saw you standing here in the dark and wondered if you were okay… This whole library is completely empty. It’s creepy. I tried saying your name but you didn’t answer. And then I heard something back here so I came back and you were just standing here in the dark,” Alfred said, grimacing.

Arthur set the book back on the cart. “I didn’t hear you say my name at all… I just heard footsteps and when I tried to look if anyone was there I couldn’t see anyone… I thought my ears were playing tricks on me…” Arthur leaned against the cart. He seriously wondered if he’d almost had a heart attack. Alfred had come out of nowhere. Arthur had been expecting to be dragged into the darker corners of the library to be killed or eaten right there on the spot, he certainly hadn’t been expecting Alfred of all people to be the one standing there. “What are you doing here?” he asked, and then because he was stupid and still frightened and a bit pissed at Alfred for scaring him, he blurted out, “Did you come to pay your fines?”

Alfred’s expression turned to one of annoyance. “Seriously? You’re asking me that again?”

“I… I can ask you whatever I want. And it’s my _job_ , which I’m doing right now if you hadn’t noticed.”

“The only thing I noticed was you standing by yourself in the dark. Excuse me for being a little concerned for you. And no, I didn’t come to pay my fines.”

“You’re just going to never pay them then?”

“I didn’t say that,” Alfred growled, stepping towards Arthur. Arthur wanted to back against the shelf or grab a book to defend himself, but he didn’t want to lose to Alfred.

“You only ever come in here practically every day so why won’t you? What’s so hard about paying your fines?”

“It’s not my fault!”

“It is too your fault, and don’t yell in the library.”

“There’s nobody here to hear me!” he said, louder, and stepped closer, forcing Arthur to back up until he was pressed against the bookshelf.

“That’s not the point, it’s still a library,” Arthur insisted, trying not to raise his own voice and look like a hypocrite.

“An _empty_ library. But you’re right- that’s not the point. The point is every time we talk you have to bring up my fines. Geez you’re like… like… like a _parent_ always harping on me. Is that what you think of me? Some irresponsible kid that can’t remember to bring his books back or pay his fines?”

“Now _I_  never said that, you’re putting words in my mouth,” Arthur said angrily. “I don’t think you’re some kid I just don’t seriously understand _why_ you won’t. What’s stopping you from bringing them back? What is it, Alfred? Hm?” Arthur said, straightening up, fists clenched.

“It’s because if I do pay my fines and bring the books back then I won’t have any excuse to keep coming to the library to see you!” Alfred cried out.

Arthur suddenly reached up, hands grabbing Alfred’s head on either side, and pulled him down until their lips came together.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Seven Notes: i work at my school library during the summer so i based a lot of this off my campus library and my own experiences. it is 100% true that in the summer time the library is practically dead and also very scary. : ( i had to shelve books in the dark and i thought a monster was gonna kill me.
> 
> i’ve also had office jobs on campus during the summer and u sit at a desk, answer the phone, and cry. they would leave me alone in an office by myself for most of the time i was there.
> 
> Also chapter 7 and 8 used to be one chapter combined but i split them and i'll explain why at the end of the next chapter


	8. Chapter Eight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter contains NSFW content.

Alfred’s hands immediately wrapped around Arthur’s waist in a sort of hug, pulling him closer and kissing him deeper. Arthur felt ecstatic. He tangled his fingers roughly into Alfred’s hair, letting his tension out into the kiss. He could feel Alfred’s fists clenching the back of his shirt, strong arms holding him against an equally strong body. He tugged at Alfred’s hair a bit too enthusiastically, feeling Alfred wince as he bit Arthur’s lips.

They kissed, more violently than Arthur had imagined his first kiss with Alfred to be. He imagined it was due to a bit of the anger from their fight. He felt himself bump back against the shelf as Alfred pushed him against it, books digging into his shoulder blades awkwardly. Hands were suddenly running down Arthur’s back, and then hooking under his thighs and lifting him up. He was rather amazed by Alfred’s strength and enthusiasm as he held Arthur up, pressed against the shelves.

Arthur had a better angle now that he was slightly higher than Alfred and he used this leverage to slip his tongue into Alfred’s mouth. He groaned softly, biting, sucking, kissing Alfred over and over. By the end of this he knew their lips would be puffy, wet, and bruised but he honestly didn’t care.

He wrapped one arm around Alfred’s neck, fingers playing with the strands of hair (more gently this time), and his other hand scraped down Alfred’s broad chest, feeling him up. If he could reach he would have been feeling up Alfred’s arse but he had to work with what he could. Alfred didn’t have that limitation though, apparently, because he was freely feeling up Arthur’s hips, fingers dipping closer, lips brushing and whispering “...is this okay?” against Arthur’s lips.

Arthur could only nod weakly, letting Alfred touch and fondle and squeeze his butt, until Alfred and him were rutting against each other. Arthur had also never, when he had imagined it, that their first kiss would have progressed to this point so quickly. He didn’t mind it in the slightest bit and honestly despite the fact they were going at it in a public library if Alfred tried to stop Arthur would probably just drag him back.

He moaned as Alfred sucked a few hickeys into existence along the length of his neck, biting and swirling his tongue around each mark. The spot beneath Arthur’s ear had him twitching and grinding against Alfred as best as he could from his position. They worked from a slow, awkward pace to a better controlled one, getting the rhythm of each other’s hips down. Alfred moaning and grunting, trying to keep his voice down, and Arthur doing the same.

\--

Alfred couldn’t believe he was getting to touch Arthur finally. He had dreamed about holding those hips in his hands but he could never have imagined how perfect Arthur would have sounded moaning in reaction to those touches. It only made him want to touch Arthur more.

He might have preferred to take Arthur out on a date first but he wasn’t going to waste this good chance. And if Arthur wanted to, there would be time other days to go on dates… and perhaps more time to do this again and again and again…

Alfred felt dizzy kissing Arthur so he switched to his neck, giving the pale skin there some attention. He at the same time tried to work their bodies into a good rhythm with one another and oh god it felt so good.

“Yea… yea…. Arthur… babe…” Alfred moaned gently, eyelashes fluttering shut as he just took the time to feel how amazingly perfect this moment was. Warm, hot, addictive pleasure bringing him closer to the edge. He shifted Arthur only slightly, hearing Arthur make a small gasp, leg kicking the cart. Books tumbled off the cart and onto the floor. Alfred tried to mind where they were so he wouldn’t trip on them as he dry humped Arthur. Never in his life would he ever imagined to be doing something like this in a public library but he didn’t mind it one bit.

He pulled back to watch Arthur’s expression, those puffed lips moaning, face flushed along his cheeks, glasses skewed slightly over closed eyes with the prettiest and longest dark lashes Alfred had ever seen. “Artie shit… you’re beautiful…nnh…” Alfred clutched Arthur’s thighs, swearing he was going to leave bruises on them at this rate but not able to stop himself.

He watched the way Arthur twisted, straining against Alfred, against his pants for completion. Alfred kept one hand around Arthur’s waist to hold him up, feeling Arthur wrap his legs around his waist, hooking his ankles together. His other hand held the shelf, hitting a row of books over and hearing some spill onto the floor. He got his hips rocking up into a sort of fucking, thrusting motion, feeling Arthur move with him.

They both let out long groans, whispering each other’s names in rushed and panting voices. Alfred felt Arthur’s head fall onto his shoulder, biting it to muffle his moans. Alfred ran his tongue along the shell of Arthur’s ear and nipped the lobe of it as he came. He felt himself quiver and then felt Arthur tense up as he released too. The two of them carelessly swayed against one another, riding out their orgasms until Alfred finally released Arthur. He slid down off of Alfred, legs shaky as he leaned against his chest. Alfred wrapped his arm around Arthur, using a hand to tilt his chin up and pulled him into another kiss.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Eight Notes: no sex in the library r u crazy that’s crazy. i'm sorry this was so short i really am i'm terrible.
> 
> i separated this into a chapter by itself so for those who dont wanna read nsfw content can just skip this chapter and for other reasons lol


	9. Epilogue

This kiss was slower, gentle and tired, lips slowly pulling apart and coming back for more, unable to bring themselves to stop. Alfred finally felt Arthur pull away and he did too, meeting his eyes. The two of them flushed, minds coming back to reality. There were books all over the floor around them.

“Well… that was… rather unexpected…” Arthur said, still flushed and looking as disheveled as Alfred currently felt. They both had to wipe off their mouths from the saliva and that just made things even more awkward.

“Yeah…” Alfred breathed. “It was… nice though…?” he said, seeking Arthur’s eyes for confirmation in the dark.

Arthur nodded. “It was…” he murmured. He glanced around. “We made a mess…”

Alfred looked down at their pants. “Yea we did…” He felt embarrassment burn on the tips of his ears. How was he going to leave the library now with a stain right there. Arthur too? Arthur was technically supposed to be working…

Arthur looked at his watch. “My shift ends in five minutes…”

“Does someone come in after you?”

Arthur nodded, glancing towards where the front desk was, hoping that they weren’t already checking in.

“There’s a back entrance… my car’s right out back too…” Arthur said.

The two of them began picking up the books again. They snuck back up to the front desk, using the cart as sort of a protection to hide their pants, feeling embarrassed like stupid high schoolers. Arthur grabbed his sweater, handing Alfred the keys. “Go wait outside…” he said. “I’ll be out in a second.” He hesitantly kissed Alfred’s cheek.

“What about you?”

“I’m going to spill some water on myself,” Arthur said, grabbing a water bottle, “and wait for the next person to show up. It should be soon. You should go before they get here though and suspect anything…”

Alfred nodded, returning the kiss on Arthur’s cheek to give him reassurance that he wasn’t going to run off.

Arthur had shown up only a few minutes later, his pants now far more soaked than before. Alfred felt a bit bad but at the same time not bad at all because it was his fault Arthur had gotten to orgasm and if possible he wanted to make it happen again soon.  He wanted to have a proper date with Arthur too. He wanted to do a lot of things with Arthur and hoped that Arthur wanted those things too.

When they got back to Alfred’s apartment the two of them talked in Arthur’s car for a bit. There might have also been a bit more kissing too.

“Why did you run off that one day?” Arthur asked, sitting back in his seat a bit.

Alfred looked at him, confused. “Run off? From you?”

Arthur nodded. “In the library. I called out to you and you booked it out of there… It was like you’d seen a ghost. I thought you were just trying to avoid me.”

Alfred’s expression still didn’t clear. He was trying to process recently running through the library. He finally remembered the one time he’d run off, after seeing that monster… he had tried to block it from his mind but… Alfred paled.

“Wait… that was you?’

“What? I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“You… were you in the back of the library?” Arthur nodded. “You… you tried to talk to me?” Arthur nodded again. “Did… did the light flicker?”

“Yes,” Arthur responded, not knowing what Alfred was trying to get it. He frowned. “I tried to let maintenance know they needed to replace that light. That’s why it went out earlier tonight,” he explained. “That still doesn’t tell me why you ran away from me.”

“I… I thought you were… death… or a monster coming for me,” Alfred admitted.

“What?” Arthur asked dryly, a blank expression on his face. “Me?”

Alfred looked at him. Arthur was rather small and petite. If he was a monster he was a very cute and appealing one. “Well… yeah…” he said, wincing. “You sounded scary…”

“I sounded… scary?”

“Your voice… the voice that was calling to me was gravely and scratchy and… scary…”

Arthur was silent for a moment before he suddenly bursted out into peals of laughter. “You moron!” he said, giggling and looking at Alfred who didn’t look nearly as happy. “I was sick!” Arthur said through a fit of laughter. “My voice had been gone for about a week and every time I tried to talk it came out like that… Scratchy and croaking…  very awful, Elizaveta kept making fun of me.”

Alfred was slowly starting to understand it more. The light had just flickered because it had been dying and Arthur had just been sick, which explained his voice. He huffed, pouting a bit.

“I guess we’re even now,” Alfred said. “I scared you, you scared me.”

Arthur finally stopped laughing as hard, nodding. “I guess,” he said, still looking at Alfred with an amused expression. He snorted. “I scared you so much you ran out of the library so fast…” Arthur started laughing again, unable to stop himself.

Alfred frowned. “Thanks,” he said sarcastically, crossing his arms.

“S-sorry…” Arthur said, clearly not sorry and clearly still laughing.

Alfred leaned over to kiss him, hoping to shut him up. They kissed for a moment longer before Alfred broke it, putting his hand on the door handle and getting ready to get out.

“Try not to be too scared walking up to your door alone,” Arthur said, holding back a laugh.

Alfred rolled his eyes. “Thanks for the ride,” he said, starting to get out of the car, rolling his eyes at Arthur. He didn’t think it was very funny. He’d honestly thought he was going to die that day. “I think I’ll be fine.”

“Uh huh,” Arthur said, and Alfred shut the car door on his face.

\--

Two days later Alfred finally paid off his fines, returning all of his books. He’d finished his paper the day before and with only a couple exams to study for, he was almost free and ready to graduate. He’d already planned out the date for that weekend for Arthur and him.

 

Arthur had also been rather happy that Alfred had finally paid his fines and such, dragging him to some of the backshelves to kiss him for maybe longer than they should have. Elizaveta had found them, not seeming to care that they’d been making out in the library (you think they would have learned), but more concerned with dragging Arthur back to work.

\--

That weekend Alfred had just gotten home with Arthur back to his apartment when he found Antonio, Romona, Gil, Mattie, and even Kiku, and Ludwig there, all a bit drunk and talking loudly.

Alfred found out that Romona had proposed and he congratulated her, Antonio looking very, very pleased and happy. Romona suddenly gave Alfred a hug, which nobody had been expecting but that was okay.

They popped open the rest of their alcohol supply and Alfred knew he was going to have a rather large headache the next morning. He introduced Arthur to Mattie and Gil, and then to everyone else who hadn’t met him before, happy to be able to hold Arthur’s hand in front of them.

He was already planning out where he wanted to take Arthur again and when, and watched as Romona and Antonio sappily fed each other grapes at the kitchen counter. Alfred grinned, seeing how Antonio was practically glowing, kissing Romona every chance he could get, and everywhere on her face he could reach. He kept looking at the ring, showing it off to everyone over and over again despite everyone telling him they’d already seen it at least ten times.

He couldn’t help but feel that, despite the fact he was graduating soon, and didn’t really know what he wanted to do with his life, he didn’t feel all that scared. Somehow everything seemed like it was going to be okay. And that could have been the booze, or maybe just Arthur sitting beside him, but it was a feeling he wanted to hold onto.

He held Arthur’s hand a little bit tighter, Arthur looking at him for a short moment before the two of them kissed again.

THE END

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**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Epilogue Notes: Happy cheesy endings are all i ever write. 
> 
> Thank you all for reading this story as well! I liked reading the comments.
> 
> I wanted to let you know I'm currently working on another fanfiction of which i am 2/3rd of the way finished so that should be up sometime later this week. 
> 
> \--
> 
> Also for this story, how would you all feel having a sort of oneshot sequel for it? I want your opinions so please let me know!

**Author's Note:**

> Chapter One Notes: Hahahahahaha “BOOKED IT” out of the LIBRARY hahaha im so funny. poor alfie getting frightened. like a little rabbit. im sorry i always pick on you alfie.


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